Sydney FC 2024/25 A-League Men’s Season Review

Despite a decreasing payroll from last season, Sydney FC headed into the 2024/25 A-League Men season with multiple headline signings made that indicated Sydney’s intent for the upcoming campaign, in Round Ball Australia’s next season review.

With what once would have thought to have been an impossible signing, the Sky Blues managed to persuade former Bayern Munich and Juventus superstar Douglas Costa down under in a move that garnered lots of mainstream attention, once again shining the spotlight on the Sydney side after an underwhelming campaign in 23/24.

Some other sensible reinforcements followed Costa, in talismanic midfielder Leo Sena, deadly striker Patryk Klimala, Anas Ouahim, and the defensive reinforcements of Alex Popovic and Harrison Devenish-Meares.

With a squad bolstering this much attacking talent the sights were firmly set on silverware that could come in the form of an AFC Champions League Two (ACL2) title, or at a minimum A-League silverware, which many tipped Sydney to walk away with at a canter.

Head coach Ufuk Talay was still at the reigns and would look to build upon a promising debut season in blue which ultimately ended in an underwhelming semi-final defeat to eventual champions Central Coast Mariners.

The only roadblock was the defensive frailty of the squad, with the centre-back and fullback positions lacking the depth that was usually required for a strong showing across both continental competitions and the domestic league. This was exacerbated by sale of Hayden Matthews in January.

Season Grade: D

Ultimately it was a lack of consistency within Sydney’s defensive unit alongside Talay’s dogmatism in his playing principles – especially early in the season – that led Sydney FC to the position they found themselves in at the end of the season; knocked out of the AFC Cup in a favourable semi-final, and missing out on an A-League finals appearance after having their fate solely in their own hands.

This is one of the biggest under-performances we have seen from a squad in the A-League in a long time, potentially ever, and Talay will still be wondering to himself how it all happened.

They spent much of the season in the hunt for a prominent finishing position, and without many more stumbles than are to be expected, but just like that their season was flipped on its head in the latter stages of the season.

As the Sky Blues delved deeper into their ACL2 fight, their position on the A-League ladder became more and more precarious, but the team would rally after securing their spot in the ACL2 Final, right?

Well, things didn’t go to plan, and a winnable semi-final against Singapore’s Lion City Sailors turned into a missed opportunity, falling 2-1 on aggregate, which led to more disappointment in the league.

Sydney FC needed just a point in their last two fixtures of the season to secure a top six place, however a 1-0 loss to Western United and a limp performance away at City on the final match-day put the opportunity of any silverware out of Sydney’s grasp.

Many point at vital games in the season where points were dropped due to Talay’s gung-ho approach to playing the game as where they came unstuck by seemingly refusing to settle for draws in matches where they faced adversity, often opting to go all-out attack until the final moments in search of late winners.

Pair this with some unfortunately timed injuries in the defensive line alongside some at times baffling team selections, and it was a sure recipe for an agitated fan base.

The bare minimum this squad was tasked with was a finals appearance, and in the end, they could not even manage to squeak into the six even though the opportunity presented itself on numerous occasions.

Sydney FC’s season ended in pure disaster, and considering the resources at their disposal, it is difficult to give them any more than a D for their efforts in 2024/25.

Relationism vs Transitional Frailty

Ufuk Talay’s principles of relationism in his approach to games meant that Sydney were all over the place consistency wise, and when the team were on, they were on, but the blueprint to beat them became glaringly obvious for opposition teams over the course of the season.

The identity of the side was one that prioritised fluidity and creativity over any form of rigid structure, leading to breathtaking moves at times, but allowed teams to find massive gaps in the Sydney backline especially when it came to defensive transition stages in games.

Against greater opposition this worked in their favour, making it hard for other teams to deviate from their strategy and plan for ways to get at Sydney that worked with their own tactical set ups, however this played into the hand of lesser sides that were set up to soak pressure and hit on the break.

There were moments in this season where Sydney FC made bottom-dwelling sides like Brisbane look much better than they were, and it was due to Talay’s refusal to deviate from his own plans in games where they were the favourite to pick up the points.

The balance was not quite found throughout this campaign, and from game-to-game fans didn’t know whether they were going to get an attacking masterclass or a defensive horror show.

This inconsistency led to the outrage when Sydney announced the extension of Talay for the 2025/26 season, with a club option to extend for a further year should results be more favourable come next year’s competition.

In Talay there remains a manager with strong ideas in his own philosophy, and in the contract extension we can see that this aligns with the clubs approach, but the question is how long will fans put up with this inconsistency and it remains to be seen if Talay is able to implement his approach in a more cohesive way that will put the fan’s unrest to bed.

Segecic super-sub and Costa’s class

The top performer this season is quite obvious in Sydney’s case now, but Adrian Segecic would have been at long odds to take the acclaim of being Sydney’s best player before the season kicked off.

Competing for playing time with the aforementioned fire power of Costa, Klimala, and Joe Lolley, Segecic took a little bit of time to adjust to his role this season but after he found his feet, he had a stand-out season leading him to share the golden boot alongside Archie Goodwin in 24/25, in addition to a litany of awards at Sydney FC’s Sky Blue Ball.

This is an outstanding achievement for a player who made nearly as many appearances off the bench as he did in the starting line-up, netting seven of his 13 goals coming on as a substitute.

Including his appearances in Sydney’s ACL2 campaign, he scored so many important goals to keep the season alive for the Sky Blues, and he is likely to find an overseas move as his contract comes to an end this season.

Patryk Klimala had a good scoring season by A-League standards, netting 11 times in his 21 appearances and was a perfect centrepiece to get onto the end of Sydney’s attacking moves, but after his loan deal ended, he signed for K-League 1 side FC Seoul.

Douglas Costa’s goals and assist tally would be lower than perhaps he would have hoped, however his class is still a level above most in the competition and whenever he was on the field he had the talent to make something out of nothing.

He will look to improve on an already impressive first season in Sky Blue, and will no doubt play an important role in next season’s push for titles once again.

Patience in Talay

Although falling short in this campaign, there is plenty to look forward to in the next one for Sydney supporters as the club will look to build on the current efforts and challenge for silverware again.

Trust and patience in Talay is paramount, and his approach does take time to instil itself on a squad so we will likely be seeing a much-improved outing in 25/26.

As long as signings can improve the much-needed areas of weakness, mostly on the defensive side, then Sydney will be right up there again with the best.